The discourse of English Language Teaching (ELT) development aid for the Global South has undergone significant changes since its introduction in the post-WWII period. Specifically, in the contemporary context of globalisation, both the aim and operation of ELT aid exhibit the influence of neoliberalism. This article examines policy documents about the introduction and implementation of a UKaid-funded development project in Bangladesh called English in Action to understand the forces and ideologies which guided the donor and project implementers to subscribe to instrumentalist discourses in relation to ELT as development aid. Drawing on decolonial perspectives, notably, the idea of ‘geopolitics of knowledge’, the article contributes to our ...